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The tradition of glass in Tuscany has origins dating back to medieval times. In the territory of Montaione, a document that dated back to 1279, attests the presence of furnaces for the manufacture of glass and glass items.
Other historical sources attest that in 1337 the town of San Miniato granted to men of Montaione the possibility of opening the furnaces to work the glass throughout the district of San Miniato, which at that time comprised more than Montaione and San Miniato, also Santo Stefano, Tonda, Barbialla, Corazzano, Collegalli, and other neighbouring cities.
This confirms that between 1200 and 1300 the art of glass Montaione was in great expansion, thanks to the opportunity to procure large quantities of wood to fuel the furnaces in the nearby woods, especially near the Selva di Camporena.
In the centuries that followed the master glassmakers of Montaione continued to expand its business throughout the Valdelsa, up to Empoli, where even today the factories for the manufacture of glass play an important role for local economy.
In 1738 a notice of the Grand Duke of Tuscany forbade the master glassmakers of Montaione to go to practice the art of glass outside of Tuscany. Despite the ban, many glassmakers drove up to northern Italy and probably also in Murano.
In 1754 some furnaces were produced bottles and flasks for wine, bottle and other objects in glass, were just inside the walls of the village of Montaione, probably close to Via Chiarenti that today is a street of the centre.
Today, Montaione, the glass has been supplanted by other economic activities, not by chance some of the old factories and glass furnaces have been converted into farm houses and holiday homes, however, remains the memory of a past rich and thriving which once again confirms the ingenuity and industriousness of the people of Montaione and that you can easily imagine walking through the streets of the historic centre of this ancient village in Tuscany
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